Community members of Madombidzha village are at loggerheads with a traditional leader who allegedly erected stands at an old graveyard site in exchange for money.

A traditional leader, Vhakoma Vho-Petrus Nwanamidwa, and his friend, Mr Mpfuni Ramabulana, allegedly sold an old graveyard to other members of the community who then erected stands at the graveyard. Now family members of the people who were buried at the graveyard are concerned that they are not respecting their ancestors.

"We are not going to allow such disrespect to our loved ones. Our family members must be left alone and rest in peace. These people are our ancestors and if anyone wants to tamper with these graves, he will be in danger," said the angry family member of one of the people who has been buried at the graveyard, granny Masindi Raduvha.

Raduvha (76) said she would never allow any stand to be erected at the graveyard. "Since I was born, I have never seensuch disrespectful people. This is where we come to perform our rituals and now people want to destroy our forefathers´ graves. Over my dead body; this will not happen," said Raduvha.

When Mirror visited the site on Sunday, people had already inserted poles, trying to fence off the stands on top of the graves. Family members of the people who were buried at the graveyard were busy placing back the stones that had been removed from the graves during Mirror´s visit.

Mirror also learnt that the stands had been sold for R600 each.

Nwanamidwa and Ramabulana were contacted several times for comment, but to no avail. The families were planning to open a case with the police.